Virtual Enterprise Model Contracts

This paper is a deliverable in the ALIVE (Advanced Legal Issues in Virtual Enterprise) project (IST – 2000 – 25459), funded by the European Commission. It deals with the precontractual stage when the potential virtual enterprise (VE) partners and/or the business integrator (VE Architect or VE Broker, as the case may be,) are coming together, exploring the possibility of forming a virtual enterprise together, looking for further partners with the required competencies and negotiating the terms of the future VE project and the set-up of the virtual enterprise. Templates are provided for a VE Letter of Intent and a VE Memorandum of Understanding to help address a number of precontractual concerns of the negotiating partners and there is also an explanatory memorandum thereon. It then looks at the contractual framework for the operation and running of a virtual enterprise and looks into a number of issues such as liability, intellectual property rights, management and representation of the virtual enterprise, etc. A template of a VE Interchange Agreement is provided as well as an explanatory memorandum